Magazines for holding packs of sheet material



1966 D. s. SILVER MAGAZINES FOR HOLDING PACKS OF SHEET MATERIAL 7 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 22, 1964 Dec. 13, 1966 D. s. SILVER 3,291,483

MAGAZINES FOR HOLDING PACKS OF SHEET MATERIAL Filed June 22, 1964 7 SheetsSheet 3 L 20 F IG. 6

Dec. 13, 1966 D. s. SILVER 3,291,433

MAGAZINES FOR HOLDING PACKS OF SHEET MATERIAL Filed June 22, 1964 7 Sheets-Sheet 5 D. S. SILVER Dec. 13, 1966 MAGAZINES FOR HOLDING PACKS 01" SHEET MATERIAL Filed June 22, l964 '7 Sheets-Shoot. 4

D. S. SILVER Dec. 13, 1966 MAGAZINES FOR HOLDING PACKS OF SHEET MATERIAL '7 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed June 22, 1964 @Q mm wOr Dec. 13, 1966 D. s. SILVER 3,291,483

I MAGAZINES FOR HOLDING PACKS OF SHEET MATERIAL Filed June 22, 1964 7 Sheets-$heet 6 Dec. 13, 1966 D. s. SILVER 3,291,483

MAGAZINES FOR HOLDING PACKS OF SHEET MATERIAL Filed June 22, 1964 7 Sheets-Sheet 7 as sog United States Patent O M 3,291,483 MAGAZINES FOR HOLDING PACKS F SHEET MATERIAL Dennis gtanley Silver, London, England, assignor to Purdy Machinery Company Limited, London, England Filed June 22, 1964, Ser. No. 376,963 Claims priority, application Great Britain, July 5, 1963, 26,730/63 13 Claims. (Cl. 271-62) This invention relates to magazines for holding packs of sheet material, such as labels to be delivered in series to a location at which they are to be applied; for example, to bottles. In such magazines, pressure is applied to the back of the pack so that the foremost sheet is always in a predetermined position, in which it is picked from the magazine to be delivered to the point at which it is required.

Modern developments have led to the necessity for picking labels from these magazines at a higher speed than has hitherto been necessary. It is, therefore, one object of the invention to provide means whereby these magazines can easily be replenished with sheets without interrupting the picking operations. A further object is to provide means for applying pressure to the back of the pack which means are particularly usefully employed in magazines accommodating larger packs than have hitherto generally been used.

According to the invention, a magazine as aforesaid includes an elongated container for the pack of sheets arranged so that the said predetermined position is located substantially at One end of the container, a pressure member for exerting a thrust on the end of the pack remote from the predetermined position, a carriage mounted to travel along one face of the container, and loading means for urging the carriage towards the said end of the container, the pressure member being detachably mounted on the carriage so that a new pack of labels can be placed in the container behind the pressure member, and the pressure member then removed, enabling the carriage to be pushed back to enable the pressure member to be mounted there-on behind the new pack. Advantageously, the said loading means are constituted by a self-contained motor unit mounted on the carriage itself and comprising spring mechanism.

High speed picking of labels has also been found to lead to difficulties due to the inability of the ambient air to find its way quickly behind the sheet being picked, with the result that a partial vacuum is created behind the sheet, and this tends to cause more than one sheet to be drawn from the magazine at each picking operation. One object of the invention is to provide means whereby this disadvantage is overcome.

According to a further feature of the invention, therefore, means are provided for periodically gripping the pack of sheets in a magazine, at or near the forward end to the pack, and withdrawing these sheets towards the rear of the magazine in timed relationship with the picking of the label at the front of the pack. This enables the front label to be picked while the withdrawal of the labels at or near its rear face breaks the partial vacuum that would otherwise prevent the proper operation of the picking mechanism at comparatively high speeds. The means for gripping the pack may very conveniently include gripper plates carried by mechanism arranged to move the plates towards one another, to grip the pack, while the plates move towards the back of the magazine, and to cause the plates to separate during the return, idle stroke.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into effect, apparatus in accordance FIGURE 1.

Patented Dec. 13, 1966 therewith will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a label magazine assembly for use in a bottle labelling machine;

FIGURE 2 is a diagrammatic cross-section showing some of the parts of the assembly of FIGURE 1;

FIGURES 3 and 4 show modifications of the arrangement of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 5 is a side elevation showing details of the assembly of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 6 is an end view of the assembly of FIGURE 5, as viewed in the direction of the arrow C;

FIGURE 7 is a cross-section on the line AA in FIG- URE 5;

FIGURE 8 is a cross-section on the line B-B in FIG- URE 5;

FIGURE 9 is a perspective view showing mechanism used in addition to that appearing in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 10 is a plan of a portion of a further magazine assembly;

FIGURE 11 is a sectional elevation of the portion of the magazine appearing in FIGURE 10, the section being on the line XIXI in FIGURE 12; and

FIGURE 12 is a cross-section on the line XIIXII in FIGURE 11.

The magazine comprises an elongated, trough-shaped frame arranged to be mounted in a stationary position in a bottle labelling machine. The frame consists of a side wall I fixed to a base 2, and a side wall 3 fixed to the base 2 in such a way a to enable the separation between the walls I, 3 to be adjusted. Thus, the side wall 3 is furnished with brackets 4, one of which appears in Each bracket 4 is formed with a bush 5 mounted to slide on a rod 6 to which it can be locked by a set-screw (not shown).

The labels L are inserted as a pack in the magazine with their edges engaging parallel rails 6 extending along the magazine from end-to-end thereof. The arrangement of the rails depends on the shape of the labels being accommodated, as is clear from FIGURES 2 to 4.

Continuous forward pressure is maintained on the back of the pack by a transverse bar 7 that projects through and rests on the lower edges of elongated slots 8, 2 respectively in the side walls 1, 3. One end of the bar 7 fits between spaced plates 10, 11 mounted on a springdriven carriage 12 that travels along the wall 1 in the way described below.

Forward movement of the pack of labels L is limited by stops. One of these consists of a roller 13 carried by a spindle 14 on arms 15 adjustably mounted in bushes I6 fixed to the adjustable side wall 3. The other stops consist of two discs 16a fixed to a rod 17 mounted on the fixed side wall I.

The carriage 12 will now be described with reference to FIGURES 5 to 8, from which it will be seen that the carriage inculdes a plate 18 carried by two rollers 19 that run on an upper rail 20 extending along the outside surface of the wall 1. The carriage is steadied by two lower rollers 21 and that run beneath a lower rail 22, which also extends along the outside surface of the wall I. A spindle 23 is mounted in the plate 18 and in a bracket 24 fixed thereto, and a pinion 25, fixed to the spindle 23, meshes with rack teeth 32 extending along the lower edge of the rail 20. Long plates 26, 27 are fixed along the outer faces of the rails 20, 22 so as to maintain the rollers 19, 21 and the pinion 25 properly positioned in the direction of their axes.

Also fixed to the spindle 23 is a drum 28 to the periphery of which is attached one end of a spring 29 of the kind known under the trademark T ensator. The other end of the spring 29 is attached to the periphery of a is replaced and the carriage 12 is released.

smaller drum 30 which is freely rotatable on a spindle 31 mounted on the plate 18. The spring 29 is formed from stainless steel in such a way that it tends always to curl up into a spiral.

The action of the spring 29 will be appreciated when considering the steps, now to be described, that are taken in replenishing the magazine with labels. To do this, the new pack of labels is placed in the magazine. Then the bar 7 is withdrawn from the magazine and from between the plates 10, 11, and a new pack of labels is placed at the front of the magazine or behind any labels remaining in the magazine. Substantially simultaneously, the carriage 12 is manually pushed back toward the rear of the magazine, while the rack teeth 32 cause the pinion to rotate the larger drum 28 in a direction such as to wind up the spring 29 while it is withdrawn from the smaller drum 30. As soon as the plates 10, 11 have been brought behind the new pack of labels, the bar 7 This enables the spring 29 to start curling up on the smaller drum 30 while un-winding from the larger drum 28 and causing the latter to rotate the pinion 25 in a direction such as to make it travel along the rack teeth 32 until the bar 7 is stopped "by the back or the label pack.

The reason that the spring 29 automatically un-winds from the larger drum 28 to the smaller one 30 is that the potential energy of the coil of larger diameter is greater than the potential energy of the coil of smaller diameter, it being remembered that the spring 29 is continuosly trying to wind itself up into a tight spiral. The arrangement is such that the thrust exerted by the carriage 12 remains substantially constant throughout its entire range of movement. However, means are provided for varying the thrust, and these means include a disc 33 which is constrained to rotate with, but can slide along the spindle 23. The disc 33 is maintained in contact with a fixed friction disc 34 by a helical spring 35 which bears, at its remote end, against a nut 36. By adjusting the position of the nut 36 along the spindle 23, the frictional restraint on the rotation of the spindle 23 is varied.

In practice, a cover for the spring mechanism is mounted on the carriage.

When the magazine is mounted in a bottle labelling machine having picking mechanism as described in the specification of our co-pending United States patent application No. 376,961 filed June 22, 1964, an oscillating picking head approaches the front label in the magazine which adheres to the head as a result of suction therein. The head than swings ot a position in which one edge of the label is taken between a rotary drum and a pinch roll, and is withdrawn from the picking head. This results in the label being wrapped on a comparatively small portion of the drum surface to which it is secured by suction. The label is then carried through a position in which adhesive is applied to its exposed surface by mechanism as described in the specification of our co-pending United States patent application No. 385,417 filed July 27, 1964, and through a position in which the label is transferred to a bottle by mechanism as described in the specification of our co-pending United States patent application No. 383,642 filed July 20, 1964. Where a neck label is also to be applied to each bottle, a second magazine and picking mechanism is employed.

It has been found that when a labelling machine as aforesaid is run at high speed, it is possible for difiiculties to arise as a result of the partial vacuum that arises behind each label as it is withdrawn from the pack. In order to avoid this, the mechanism shown in FIGURE 9 is provided. This mechanism includes a pair of gripper plates 37, 38, which are located respectively in recesses 39, 40 in the forward ends of the side walls 1, 3. The gripper plates 37, 38 are respectively carried by brackets 40a, 41 fixed to arms 42, 43 pivoted at 44, 45 to an angle bracket 46 carried by two rods 47, 49 reciprocably mounted in a fixed angle bracket 8. The gripper plate 37 is fixed rigidly to the bracket 40, but the gripper plate 38 is mounted resiliently on the bracket 41 with a little clearance between the plate 38 and the bracket 41, so that the plate 38 can yield towards the bracket 41 when the pack of labels is gripped as described below.

The arms 42, 43 are formed with slots 50, 51 containing rollers 52, 53 mounted to rotate about fixed axes. The slots 50, 51 are so located that when the angle bracket 46 is withdrawn so that the arms 42, 43 are moved towards the rear of the magazine, the action of the rollers 52, 53 is to cause the forward ends of the arms 42, 43 to approach one another, thereby causing the gripper plates 37, 38 to grip the sides of the pack of labels, just behind the forward label, and to move the labels, so engaged, backwards a short distance. This occurs at the moment when the picking head has engaged the foremost label and is beginning to withdraw it from the magazine. The result is that the effect of the atmospheric pressure tending to hold the labels in contact with one another is overcome by allowing air to find its way to the back of the label being withdrawn, to break the partial vacuum that would otherwise impede the withdrawal. The gripper plates do not necessarily grip every label, except the front one, at the forward end of the pack, but the few labels between the front label and the ones being drawn backwards separate from one another sufiiciently to avoid the suction effect that would impede the withdrawal of the front label. Air at atmospheric pressure is permitted to enter spaces between these few labels. The faces of the gripper plates 37, 38 that are presented towards the pack of labels are serrated as shown in FIGURE 9.

The mechanism for withdrawing the labels includes a crank arm 54 which oscillates continuously about the axis of a vertical shaft 55 during the operation of the machine. A crank pin 56 on the arm 54 is connected by a connecting rod 57 to a block 58 pivoted to an arm 59 mounted to swing to-and-fro about an axis 60. The position of the block 58 along the rod 57 is adjustable. The arm 59 carries a roller 60a that bears on the vertical flange of the angle bracket 46, so that, when the arm 59 swings backwards, the bracket 46 is pressed backwards against the action of compression springs 61, 62 that return the arms 42, 43 to their forward and separated positions when the arm 59 swings forwards.

In the case of long magazines, say eighteen inches long, a very considerable weight. of labels can be carried and this weight varies considerably between the state when the magazine is full and that in which it is substantially empty. In this case, in order to overcome the consequent variation in frictional resistance, it is preferable to provide a carriage that produces a varying thrust along the length of the magazine. This can be effected by a spring and, in order to accommodate the substantial length of travel of the carriage, it is desirable for the spring to act through gearing. Moreover, it is very convenient for the spring mechanism to be mounted as a self-contained motor unit on the carriage itself. Such a construction is shown in FIGURES 10 to 12.

Referring to FIGURES 10 to 12, it will be seen that the magazine comprises a side wall 63 composed of top and bottom bars 64, 65 and longitudinal, round-section rods 67, 68 all supported at their ends by uprights, such as 69. Similarly the other side wall 70 is made up of bars 71, 72, rods 73, 74 and uprights, such as 75. The side walls 63, 70 are spaced from one another by transverse members 76 carrying longitudinal members 77 supporting rail members 78, on which the pack of labels rests.

A rail 79 is fixed along the outside of the bar 71 with its top surface just below the top edge of the bar 71, and a rack rail 80 is fixed along the outside of the rail 79 with its top surface just above the top of the rail 79. A plate 81 is fixed along the outside of the lower portion of the side wall 70 and carries a horizontal flange 82.

The carriage comprises a frame member 83 having limbs 84 carrying rollers 85 that run on the flange 82. The top of the frame member 83 carries two rollers 86 that run on the rail 79, axial movement of these rollers being prevented by the tops of the bar 71 and of the rack rail 80. Journalled in the frame member 83 is a horizontal spindle having a thicker portion 87 to which is fixed a pinion 88 in mesh with rack teeth beneath the rack rail 80. The spindle has a thinner portion 89 to which is fixed a comparatively small diameter pinion 90 in mesh with rack teeth beneath a rack rail 91, carried by the carriage but free to slide longitudinally relatively thereto on plates 92, 93. The rack rail 91 is prevented from moving substantially in the direction of the axis of the pinion 90 by the frame member 83 and by a cylindrical portion 94 on the pinion 90.

A horizontal tension spring 95 is anchored between a lug 96 at the forward end of the rack rail 91 and a lug 97 on a bracket 98 fixed to the frame member 83. Therefore, when the carriage is moved towards the back of the magazine, i.e. to the left as viewed in FIGURES and 11, the pinion 88 rotates on the rack rail 80 in such a direction as to cause the pinion 90 to make the lugs 95, 97 separate from one another, extending the spring 95. Then, when the carriage is released, it will be run back to the right to the extent permitted by the labels in the magazine. When all the labels in the magazine are used up, the movement of the carriage is arrested by a rubber buffer 99. The difference in diameter of the pinions 88, 90 means that the spring 95 is only stretched or relaxed by a fraction of the travel of the carriage. Thus, if the ratio of the diameters of the pinions is four to one, the spring is only stretched or relaxed by one quarter of the carriage travel. This enables a spring having a practical rate to be used, and a variety of alternative springs to be used for labels of different sizes, shapes and weights.

Forward movement of the pack as a whole is prevented by a roller 110 carried by a bracket 111, fixed to the side wall 63. In withdrawing the foremost label a picking head 112 pulls the label round the roller 110 which rotates on the label surface. The label adheres to the picking head 1 as a result of suction in the picking head 112. The picking head moves to-and-fro between the full and broken line positions of FIGURE 10 and presents the label between a drum D and a pinch roll 113, the label is taken from the head 112 as a result of the uniform rotation of the drum D while the pinch roll 113 rotates idly. This results in the label being wrapped on a comparatively small portion of the drum D to which it is secured by suction.

The pressure is transferred from the carriage to the back of the pack of labels by a pressure member including a pair of parallel bars 100 secured together at their outer ends by a vertical junction member 101, having parallel flanges between which the said ends lie. Each bar 100 is secured to the junction member 101 by two screws 102 that pass through a vertical slot 103 in one of the flanges. The slot 103 enables the vertical positions of the bars 40 to be adjusted. The bars 100 are a longitudinal sliding fit between two vertical plates 104, 105 carried by the carriage. The plate 104 has a flange 106 secured to the frame member 83. The plate 105 is secured to the plate 104 with intervening horizontal bars 106, 107 respectively located fairly close to the top and bottom edges of the plates 104, 105. These bars 106, 107 serve to support the junction member 101 and locate it vertically. Thus, the junction member 101 carries prongs 108, 109 respectively at its top and bottom ends, between its flanges, and these prongs are a neat sliding fit between the plates 104, 105 and respectively on the upper surface of the bar 106 and on the lower surface of the bar 107.

When the labelling machine is in operation, and the labels in the magazine are nearly all used up, a new pack of labels is placed in the magazine behind the bars 6 100. The unit consisting of the bears and junction member 101 is then withdrawn, and the carriage pushed back to 'a location enabling the said unit to be replaced with the bars 100 behind the pack. Finally, the carriage is released to enable the bars 100 to bear on the pack.

I claim:

1. A magazine for holding packs of sheet material and wherein pressure is applied to the back of the pack so that the foremost sheet is always in a predetermined position, in which it can be picked from the magazine to be delivered to a point at which it is required, the magazine including an elongated container for the pack of sheets arranged so that the said predetermined position is located substantially at one end of the container, a pressure member for exerting a thrust on the end of the pack remote from the predetermined position, a carriage mounted to travel along one face of the container, the pressure member being detachably mounted on the carriage so that a new pack of labels can be placed in the container behind the pressure member, and the pressure member then removed, enabling the carriage to be pushed back to enable the pressure member to be mounted thereon behind the new pack, and a loading means for urging the carriage towards the said end of the container, said loading means comprising a spring biased motor unit mounted to be self-contained on the carriage itself.

2. A magazine according to claim 1, in which the container provides a trough, open at the top, for the pack, and in which the carriage is arranged to travel along one side of the trough.

3. A magazine according to claim 1 in which the pressure member comprises a bar projecting into the container from the carriage through guides from which it can withdrawn longitudinally from the carriage.

4. A magazine according to claim 1, in which the said predetermined position is located by a roller against which the forward end of the pack of sheets bears.

5. A magazine according to claim 1, in which the spring mechanism includes a spring that tends always to curl up into a spiral and in so doing to pass from a drum of larger diameter to a drum of smaller diameter, a pinion being associated with one of the drums and in mesh with a rack extending along the container, whereby the passage of the spring from the larger to the smaller drum causes the carriage to travel along the container.

6. A magazine according to claim 1, in which the spring mechanism includes a spring arranged to act be tween a point fixed with respect to the carriage and a point which is movable with respect to the carriage on a member which is connected to rotate a pinion rotatable about an axis on the carriage and in mesh with a rack fixed along the container.

7. A magazine according to claim 6, in which the movable member is a further rack mounted to move longitudinally on the carriage and in mesh with a further pinion co-axial with and smaller in diameter than the first-mentioned pinion.

8. A magazine according to claim 1, provided with means for periodically gripping a pack of sheets in the magazine, at or near the forward end of the pack, and withdrawing these sheets towards the rear of the magazine, enabling the front label to be picked while the withdrwal of the labels at or near its rear face prevents any partial vacuum from arising behind the front label.

9. A magazine for holding packs of sheet material and wherein perssure is applied to the back of the pack so that the foremost sheet is always in a predetermined position, in which it can be picked from the magazine to be delivered to a point at which it is required, the magazine including an elongated container for the pack of sheets arranged so that the said predetermined position is located substantially at one end of the container, a pressure member for exerting a thrust on the end of the pack remote from the predetermined position, means for causing the pressure member to exert the said thrust,

and means for periodically gripping a pack of sheets in the magazine, at or near the forward end of the pack, and withdrawing these sheets towards the rear of the magazine, enabling the front label to be picked while the withdrawal of the labels at or near its rear face prevents any partial vacuum from arising behind the front label.

10. A magazine according to claim 9, in which the means for gripping the pack include a pair of gripper plates mounted to move to-and-fro in such a way as to move towards one another, to grip the pack between them, while the plates move towards the back of the magazine and to separate from one another during the return, idle stroke, and mechanism for causing the gripper plates so to move to-and-fro.

11. A magazine according to claim 2 in which the pressure member comprises a bar projecting into the container from the carriage through guides from which it an be withdrawn longitudinally from the carriage.

12. A magazine according to claim 11 in which the said predetermined position is located by a roller against which the forward end of the pack of sheets bears.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,178,783 11/1939 Egger 271-62 2,631,037 3/1953 Lake et a1. 27162 FOREIGN PATENTS 754,069 8/ 1956 Great Britain. 917,754 2/ 1963 Great Britain.

M. HENSON WOOD, JR; Primary Examiner.

ROBERT B. REEVES, Examiner. A. N. KNOWLES, Assistant Examiner. 

9. A MAGAZINE FOR HOLDING PACKS OF SHEET MATERIAL AND WHEREIN PRESSURE IS APPLIED TO THE BACK OF THE PACK SO THAT THE FOREMOST SHEET IS ALWAYS IN A PREDETERMINED POSITION, IN WHICH IT CAN BE PICKED FROM THE MAGAZINE TO BE DELIVERED TO A POINT AT WHICH IT IS REQUIRED, THE MAGAZINE INCLUDING AN ELONGATED CONTAINER FOR THE PACK OF SHEETS ARRANGED SO THAT THE SAID PREDETERMINED POSITION IS LOCATED SUBSTANTIALLY AT ONE END OF THE CONTAINER, A PRESSURE MEMBER FOR EXERTING A THRUST ON THE END OF THE PACK REMOTE FROM THE PREDETERMINED POSITION, MEANS FOR CAUSING THE PRESSURE MEMBER TO EXERT THE SAID THRUST, AND MEANS FOR PERIODICALLY GRIPPING A PACK OF SHEETS IN THE MAGAZINE, AT OR NEAR THE FORWARD END OF THE PACK, AND WITHDRAWING THESE SHEETS TOWARDS THE REAR OF THE MAGAZINE, ENABLING THE FRONT LABEL TO BE PICKED WHILE THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE LABELS AT OR NEAR ITS REAR FACE PREVENTS ANY PARTIAL VACUUM FROM ARISING BEHIND THE FRONT LABEL. 